101 Reasons to Love the First State: 26-50

“Everyone knows each other, and you can always find someone to help you out. No matter where I travel, I always seem to know someone and it goes back to this small state.”
– Susan Colonna, native Delawarean

: Fresh out of UD, the former Lady Hen hoopster played for the Chicago Sky as the second overall WNBA draft pick, then, in 2013, became the first rookie player to lead in votes for the WNBA All-Star Game.

: What greater symbol of the pioneer, so central to our national identity, could there be? They came to North America via Finns who settled in Delaware.

: Following the beleaguered state treasurer’s Chip-Erika saga was endlessly entertaining. With that kind of behavior, the Republicans might start looking good to voters again.

: Thanks to the law that lifted ceilings on usury rates, Delaware has been the financial service capital of the nation for almost 35 years. Plenty of rising execs owe their college educations to parents who grew up in the management tracks of the former MBNA and companies like it. We still owe today’s relatively stable economy to author Pete du Pont.

: Due to the late Gov. Russ Peterson’s visionary law, the shores of the Delaware Bay look nothing at all like refinery-studded Galveston Bay. We enjoy a beautiful coast protected from heavy industrialization, which keeps the areas around our national wildlife refuges spectacularly natural (for the most part.)

: It took a bunch of out-of-state transplants to convince us that Delaware needed its own National Public Radio-member station, and we’re forever in their debt. WDDE provides much of the same excellent programming you’d enjoy on Philly’s WHYY, but, due to a crack news team of local pros, with Delaware stories. Via the NPR syndicate, the rest of the country learns the big stories in the First State almost as soon as we do.

: Due to its efforts and the work of others, the last state without a national park unit now has one. The First State National Monument includes The Green in Dover, the New Castle Courthouse and the Rockford Woodlawn property, 1,100 acres of field and forest along the historic Brandywine. It ain’t Yosemite, but it’s ours.

: The botanical paradise is a visual feast at any time of year, with some variety of native cultivars in bloom every season. Woodland, meadow or bog, any place you explore is a delight. Did we mention that Mt. Cuba made the gift that made it possible to buy and protect the Rockford Woodlawn property?

: George Washington’s china, Paul Revere’s silver tankards, rooms full of the most amazing furniture of seemingly every style and period in American history—there is no place for aficionados and scholars of American decorative arts as comprehensive and grand as Winterthur.

: Love him or hate him, the man became vice president. And it apparently hasn’t changed him a bit. Keep the quotables coming, Joe. (We can still can him “Joe.”)

: The body of every serviceman and servicewoman who dies overseas is transported through the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base. Their grieving loved ones are often there to accompany the bodies to their homes. The committed volunteers of Friends of the Fallen report dutifully to help the families in any way they can, sometimes simply by lending a shoulder to cry on. They are the heroes behind the heroes. We owe them our thanks.

: Welcome, Frontier Airlines. We can now fly from New Castle Airport direct to several cities, without having to arrange transportation to, or pay long-term parking at, Philadelphia or BWI. Frontier may be dialing back, but still we ask: Why couldn’t other airlines make this work before?

: Who needs Facebook or LinkedIn? If you need to find someone—anyone—someone you know knows him.

: The scene that blossomed in Rehoboth 30 years ago has spread far and wide. Now every resort town is a great food destination. And unlike 30 years ago, we have ethnic restaurants. Thai, anyone?

: The University of Delaware and the Delaware Museum of Natural History have the largest collections in the world.

: Financial troubles and ensuing controversy aside, the place is a treasure. Whether you’re into Pre-Raphaelite painting, Howard Pyle or John Sloan, we have a museum worthy of the name. Not many American cities the size of Wilmington can claim that.

: This celebration of all things agricultural would be a total anachronism were it not for the fact that Delaware is still very much an agrarian state. You can take a thrill ride at any pop-up carnival, but you can see a tractor parade or pet a show hog only at The Fair.

: As the saying goes, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. While an overpass was out of commission over the summer, traffic in and around Wilmington was a total snarl. Who knew one little stretch of highway could relieve so much congestion?

: You can have your cans of pasteurized Venezuelan and Indonesian blue crab from the grocery store. It doesn’t compare with the flavor and texture of local callinectes sapidus. With a great big bay and rivers large and small full of crabs, handlining to catch the crustaceans is something everyone should teach their kids.

: Sneaking up on its 75th birthday in 2016, the fort is a unique part of world history, having defended the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Coast through World War II. You can get a good look at it while visiting Cape Henlopen State Park.

: So they’re formally called “civil unions.” No matter. In the year-and-a-half since they were legalized, Delaware has become a more humane state.

: Let’s face it, without their generous support of the arts, we could very likely lose some of our finest organizations. They keep the du Pont legacy of a vibrant cultural community alive.

: Non-plant foods we can properly claim as our own are limited to the aforementioned crabs, chicken and the lowly and oh-so-delicious scrapple. We don’t know where it came from or why. We know that breakfast wouldn’t be the same without it.

: The first Miss United States contest, held in Rehoboth Beach in 1880 and judged, in part, by Thomas Edison, became the Miss America Pageant, so we can claim that Brittany Lewis and all the Miss Delawares who preceded her are the real Miss Americas—no matter what Ryan Seacrest says.

: The country’s first coast-to-coast, non-motorized recreational trail begins (or ends at Cape Henlopen State Park), cutting through 44 miles of mostly farmland before continuing through 14 more states to its terminus at Point Reyes National Seashore outside San Francisco. We don’t have 9,000-foot mountain passes like Colorado, but we have one beautiful bit of ocean to cool your tired doggies after walking 5,000 miles.

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